Commentary on the economic , geopolitical and simply fascinating things going on. Served occasionally with a side of snark.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Turkey's corruption scandals explodes on December 27 - 29 , 2013 -- Turkey Tensions Escalate As Riot Police, Water Cannon Unleashed .......Prime Minister appears tone deaf even as the scandal threatens to engulf not just his Government but the Prime Minister himself ! Corruption cracks in Turkey's AKP as three MPs announce resignations from party ...... Turkish Lira hits new record lows as crisis swirls.......Prominent Turkish businessmen among arrest list in second corruption probe and how will Turks react to the news that Al-Qaeda suspects flee after Turkish Government blocks raid ? With concerns that the corruption probe has been or could be blocked , the Opposition calls on president to activate State Supervisory Council for corruption case - will the President do so ?

‘How can a prime minister shield

thieves?’ CHP leader asks

The leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu hails his supporters along with his pick for Istanbul mayoral race, Mustafa Sarıgül.AA photo

Main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has asked how a prime minister could defend “thieves,” vowing that his Republican People’s Party (CHP) would bring clean politics to Turkey.

“It is the first time in the history of the Turkish Republic that a prime minister defends those who are implicated in corruption. How can someone who defends thieves be a prime minister? Turkey needs clean and honest politics,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, blasting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his stance on an ongoing graft scandal during the inauguration of the CHP’s new Istanbul headquarters Dec. 29.

“You are going to [steal], all your family is feathering their nest; then you will trick the people. We will not allow that,” Kılıçdaroğlu said during the event, which was also attended by the CHP’s candidate for the Istanbul mayoral post, Mustafa Sarıgül.

Kılıçdaroğlu called on “devout citizens” to refuse to vote for a party involved in corruption, while reiterating his call on Erdoğan and the four former ministers implicated in the graft probe to make public their assets.

“If he can’t make it public, he won’t be able to be cherished by this country. He cannot be described as an honest politician,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, emphasizing that Istanbul was a huge source of corruption.

“They have fed themselves from Istanbul. [Preventing them from siphoning off money] is in the hand of Istanbulites. Make the biggest contribution to your country,” he said.

Ahead of the inauguration ceremony, Kılıçdaroğlu was welcomed by a crowd of supporters on his arrival at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport Dec. 29, two days after thousands were deployed in support of Erdoğan at a rally in the country’s main airport.

Sarıgül, together with many prominent CHP figures, were also among those who greeted Kılıçdaroğlu at the airport.

December/29/2013

PM Erdoğan to prosecutor of second

graft investigation: ‘We’re not done yet’

PM Erdoğan speaks to the crowd during a mass opening ceremony on Dec. 29 in Manisa's Salihli district. AA photo

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has amped up the volume of his vitriolic attacks amid a graft scandal that has rocked the government firing more salvos at a prosecutor who was controversially removed from duty for carrying out a new corruption case.

“We will expose them if they cause this country’s division by abusing their power. How is this, prosecutor? Hold on, we are not done yet. You distribute statements in front of the courtroom. What prosecutor comes out onto the street to distribute statements?” Erdoğan rhetorically asked prosecutor Muammer Akkaş during a mass opening ceremony in Manisa’s Akhisar district on Dec. 29.

“A prosecutor comes out and uses his position in a very peculiar manner. He turned many innocent people into scapegoats by slandering them by [leaking] confidential documents to the partisan media. How can these people go out in public even if they are cleared tomorrow?” he said, implicitely referring to the movement of Fethullah Gülen, whose followers are known to hold key positions in the judiciary.

The government's erstwhile ally, the Hizmet (Service) movement, has literally become the administration's latest "bête noire" since a row on the closure of test prep schools turned into an open conflict with the recent graft investigation implicating four government ministers.

Akkaş denounced “pressures” on the judiciary last week after police refused to carry out arrest orders against 41 suspects prior to his removal from the case by the head of Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office. The investigation he was working on was reportedly bigger than the first graft probe that has shaken the government and included many prominent businessmen, including the executives of companies that form part of the consortium that won the tender to build Istanbul’s controversial third airport.

Erdoğan also said the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would not permit any corruption. “Even if it’s our father’s son or our child, we will not give any room to corruption.”

Last week, Erdoğan told reporters he believed that the real target of the graft probe was himself through a charity foundation which counts his son among its board members.

The sons of former Interior Minister Muammer Güler and former Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, Barış Güler and Kaan Çağlayan, respectively, were also charged with acting as intermediaries for giving and taking bribes and put under formal arrest on Dec. 21. Former Environment and Urban Planning Minister’s Erdoğan Bayraktar’s son was among those released pending trial. All the ministers resigned Dec. 25, with Bayraktar calling on Erdoğan to follow suit for approving questionable development plans at the heart of the case.

When the going gets tough, AK Party

shifts the blame

Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab was arrested on Dec. 21 as part of the ongoing investigation into claims of corruption and bribery. (Photo: Reuters)

29 December 2013 /ALİ ASLAN KILIÇ, BUKET YILMAZ, ANKARA

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is showing a tendency to look for a scapegoat whenever it feels cornered by accusations of mismanagement, corruption or fraud rather than calling its members to account for their misdeeds.

The latest example of the phenomenon surfaced during a sweeping investigation into corruption and bribery claims that drew in members of the AK Party government. Instead of clearing the way for a swift and proper investigation of the claims, the governing party went into a rage and chose others to blame in the scandal.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is also the head of the AK Party, called the corruption investigation a “dirty operation” against the government and Turkey and claimed that the probe -- which many are saying is unprecedented in the history of the republic -- was orchestrated by a “parallel state” and a “gang within the state,” in a veiled reference to the Hizmet movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Gülen has accused the government of trying to derail the corruption investigation. The prime minister also said “foreign powers” were involved in the operation.
On Dec. 17, İstanbul and Ankara police staged dawn raids and detained over 50 people in the corruption investigation. Among the detainees were officials, well-known businesspeople and the sons of three ministers. Allegations emerged that several ministers were involved in bribery.
The sons of the two ministers as well as over 20 other suspects have been arrested. The suspects stand accused of rigging state tenders, accepting and facilitating bribes for major urbanization projects, obtaining construction permits for protected areas in exchange for money, helping foreigners obtain Turkish citizenship with falsified documents and involvement in export fraud, forgery and gold smuggling. Some claim that the suspects illegally sold historic artifacts unearthed during the construction of the Marmaray rail project connecting the European and Asian sides of İstanbul.
Three ministers -- Interior Minister Muammer Güler, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan and Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar -- resigned from their posts on Dec. 25 while denying any involvement in corruption or bribery.
Even after the resignations, the prime minister called the corruption operation an “international plot,” supported by local collaborators, to sow discord in Turkey. He also accused an international “interest-rate lobby” of being behind the operation, which he said had already cost Turkey some $20 billion. In addition, the prime minister claimed that his government is as “clean as the color of the milk” in an attempt to dismiss the accusations leveled against his government.
According to Professor Mehmet Altan, an academic and writer, the AK Party resorts to demagogy and sanctimonious, tawdry rhetoric instead of addressing the corruption claims. “This is a very cheap and worthless method. … This method seeks to exploit the nationalist and conservative sentiments of the people,” he told Sunday's Zaman.
The professor also said the AK Party claims that “foreign powers,” “a parallel state” and “gangs nested within the state” are behind the corruption and bribery investigation, attempting to distract the people from the matter. “The prime minister is seeking to influence Turkish public opinion with imaginary scenarios and to distract the people's attention from the corruption investigation. The prime minister, in this way, hopes to prevent the investigation from expanding and reaching him.”
Retired military judge Ümit Kardaş said repeatedly claiming that foreign powers are to blame whenever anything goes wrong in the country diminishes the government's credibility in the eyes of the people. “If you attempt to put the entire blame for corruption or fraud on a plot, on foreign powers, on gangs or a parallel state, the people won't believe it. … There is an ongoing investigation into claims that many people, including members of the government, were involved in corruption. And it is not possible to save the government by just putting the blame on others. When the government reiterates its claims of a plot behind the operation, it grows less convincing,” he said.
Altan added that this is not the first time the prime minister has sought to shift people's attention from troublesome events that rocked the country. He said Erdoğan did the same thing during the Gezi protests.
The Gezi Park protests began as a peaceful sit-in against a government plan to replace a park in İstanbul's Taksim Square with a replica of an Ottoman-era military barracks. The movement later erupted into violent clashes with police and spread across the country. The rallies brought together large groups of protesters who accused Erdoğan of increasing authoritarian tendencies and attempting to impose his religious and conservative values on a country governed by secular laws.
The protests drew the ire of the prime minister, who took a challenging, aggressive and insulting tone when he addressed the protesters, which exacerbated already high tensions in the country. The prime minister described the protesters as “a couple of looters,” saying, “I wouldn't ask a couple of looters for permission [to go ahead with the Taksim project.]” Seemingly out of anger and a desire to show his determination to go ahead with his plan to build the replica, Erdoğan defied the protestors, saying, “When in the world have servants become masters?”
In addition, in an attempt to discredit the protests, the prime minister said an “interest-rate lobby” and “international conspiracy groups” were behind the events. He accused these mysterious entities of speculating in the financial markets during the protests. He also claimed that some banks, which he didn't name, were trying to bring down the stock exchange. The prime minister tried everything except for self-reflection on whether he was right to turn a deaf ear to the protesters' demands.
Hüseyin Öngel, a member of the Grand Unity Party's (BBP) Central Decision and Administration Board (MKYK), said the prime minister was seeking to blame others instead of encouraging a sound and impartial investigation of the corruption claims. “The prime minister puts the blame on others by claiming that the corruption operation is a plot against his government and he also continues to take steps that are aimed at impeding the investigation,” he complained.
Öngel was referring to the government's response to the corruption investigation. Some 500 police officers who had been ordered by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to conduct the probe were removed from their posts immediately after the first round of detentions and two new prosecutors were appointed to the investigation. The removals and the new appointments led legal experts to argue that the government is trying to stall the investigation.
Furthermore, the government changed a regulation to require police officers to inform their superiors of all investigations. Jurists described the change as a violation of the law and the Constitution, and said the change will allow the government to monitor any investigation ordered by prosecutors.

Turkey's prime minister refuses to step down amid protests

December 28, 20135:30PM ET

Prime Minister Recep Erdogan still has many supporters even as an increasingly vocal opposition takes to the streets

Riot police use water cannons to disperse demonstrators during an anti-government protest in central Istanbul Friday.Murad Sezer/Reuters

Turkey's prime minister has rejected calls for him to step down, as protests continue across the country against a growing corruption scandal that has embroiled Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.

Speaking to a large rally of supporters in the western city of Manisa on Saturday, Erdogan brushed aside allegations of fraud, saying they were part of an international campaign to discredit the government.

"If there is corruption, how come (Turkey's) $230 billion GDP moved up to $800 billion in 10 years since we got to power?" he said.

Erdogan said the government would not tolerate any corrupt officials, and urged his supporters to vote for his Justice and Development (AKP) party in elections scheduled for March.

In the capital Ankara on Saturday, about 4,000 people called for Erdogan to resign, chanting, "may the thieves' hands be broken."

A day earlier, Turkish riot police used water cannons, tear gas and plastic bullets to push back hundreds of protesters in Istanbul and Ankara, in scenes reminiscent of the summer's mass anti-government demonstrations.

Police blocked hundreds of protesters from gathering in Istanbul's central Taksim Square and pushed them away to the nearby streets. At least 70 people have been detained in the Taksim protests.

Meanwhile, the bribery scandal continued to widen. Twenty-four people, including the sons of two former government ministers and the head of the state-owned financial institution, Halkbank, have been arrested on bribery charges.

Members of Erdogan's party have begun defecting as well. Former Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay said Erdogan's ruling party was being directed by "arrogance," in a news conference Friday in which he announced his resignation, and said that he was parting ways with the AKP.

Reporting from Istanbul, Al Jazeera's Omar Al Saleh said the corruption scandal may deepen since some reports have suggested that another wave of investigations will implicate 40 more people, including some government officials.

The turmoil is causing the Turkish currency to plummet against the dollar and the euro.

European officials urged Turkey to handle the scandal openly, amid concerns that Erdogan's government was trying to stifle investigations. Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey's newly appointed minister in charge of relations with the European Union, responded by saying the matter was an internal Turkish one.

Flautre accuses Erdoğan with being ‘irresponsible' in corruption scandal

Hélène Flautre, the co-chairwoman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, speaks in an exclusive interview with the Cihan news agency. (Photo: Cihan)

28 December 2013 /TODAYSZAMAN.COM, İSTANBUL

Hélène Flautre, the co-chairwoman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, released a statement on Saturday in which she criticized Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with being “irresponsible” for accusing those who investigate the recent corruption probe.

"I observe the recent developments in Turkey with extreme vigilance, which greatly affect the credit of Prime Minister. In his statements, he accuses those who investigating the probe rather than require light on serious allegations of corruption involving his family is irresponsible. Allegations are certainly not findings, and justice must now continue its work in serenity and independence,” Flautre said.

Flautre's statement came after the Council of State's decision on Friday to cancel the Erdoğan government's executive order requiring police and prosecutors to notify their superiors of all investigations, effectively giving the government advance warning of what should be secret investigations.

“This is a serious political crisis and the European Union must stand firmly on the side of the defense of the rule of law, avoiding any exploitation of the situation,” her statement added.
After the cancellation of the order by the Council of State on Friday, Erdoğan said he would prosecute Turkey's top judicial body if he had the authority because it “committed a crime.”
Erdoğan claimed the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) has committed a crime by issuing a statement about a judicial police regulation while it was being assessed at the Council of State. On Thursday, the HSYK has harshly criticized the new judicial police regulation, saying that it is in violation of the Turkish Constitution.

The Erdoğan government's interference into and pressure on the judiciary was met with a huge backlash from opposition parties, bar associations, advocacy groups and the media. It has raised concerns of an attempted government cover-up of the corruption probe that has implicated prominent people in the business community and government.

Thousands of people were deployed at Istanbul's Atatürk airport on Dec. 27 to show their support to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan amid a graft scandal that has shaken the government. AA photo

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has fulminated against the three ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmakers who resigned from the party expressing criticism over the recent graft scandal.

“We have come this far in our cause together, whatever [the resigning lawmakers] might say. But, I beg your pardon, we won’t say let’s continue to walk together to those who betray us during our journey. Those, we will throw them of the door,” Erdoğan told a crowd of supporters gathered at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport Dec. 27 to show their support to the government.

The ruling AKP had also organized a similar rally in Istanbul’s main airport during the Gezi protests as a response to the mass demonstrations against the government.

However the party is facing now a significant crack due to corruption allegations implicating four ministers, all replaced by the cabinet reshuffle on Dec. 25. Three lawmakers have announced their resignations from the AKP Dec. 27 after they were sent to the party’s joint disciplinary committee with an expulsion request due to their dissenting stance.

“The people did not vote you so that you can betray your party. The party has an internal discipline,” Erdoğan said. The three lawmakers - Former Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay, İzmir MP Erdal Kalkan and Ankara MP Haluk Özdalga - joined former Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin in resigning over the graft investigation.

“Everything is nice when you are a minister but when you quit your position, you go and say that you don’t like the choice of a minister. Do you have such authority? Know your place first,” Erdoğan said, aiming particularly at the former ministers who were among the resigning deputies.

Erdoğan also accused those who are criticizing the AKP over the graft probe of meddling in corruption in the past. “Those who called this operation a graft operation are the very ones who are corrupted. I know what happened in the past,” he said, adding that the investigation was the sequel of the test prep school row between the government and the movement of the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

“I’m calling on those who have set their heart on AKP’s cause. Come and say that you don’t need anything other than state schools,” Erdoğan said.

Members of Gülen's Hizmet (Service) movement were outraged after the government announced plans of closing the test prep schools. Gülen's followers saw in the decision an attack against the movement itself and reacted very strongly from various channels.

The high-level graft probe also exposed the gravity of the bitter feud as the government accused Gülen’s movement, whose followers hold key positions in the police, judiciary and secret services, for being responsible of the investigations.

The sons of former Interior Minister Muammer Güler and former Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, who handed over their portfolios Dec. 26 after resigning, were among the 24 people who have been formally arrested under the corruption investigation.

A second graft probe was also made public this week with great controversy after the head prosecutor of the case announced the investigation files were “taken from his hands.”

After the rally at the airport, Erdoğan was received by another multitude of supporters in front of his house in Istanbul.

Protesters run away from a water cannon on İstiklal Avenue on Dec 27. AFP photo

Police have staged a crackdown on protesters who took to the streets in Istanbul on Dec. 27 to denounce the corruption and bribery allegations against the government over a graft probe that has shaken the country since last week.

In scenes that were reminiscent of the nationwide Gezi protests, riot police fired tear gas and water cannon against a group of protesters who were attempting to gather on Istanbul’s iconic İstiklal Avenue and near the GermanHospital in Cihangir, both in central Beyoğlu.

Police also fired rubber bullets against protesters. Many ambulances and fire trucks were seen entering the pedestrian road following the crackdown.

Daily Radikal reporter Elif İnce, who was covering the protests, was among those shot by rubber bullets. She suffered an injury to her femur, but was subsequently able to continue reporting from the scene.

Some of the protesters hurled fireworks and stones to the riot police officers. At least 31 people were detained, including three lawyers, the Istanbul Bar Association said.

Footage and photos showed municipality workers closing the street cameras in the surroundings of the Taksim area ahead of the demonstration.

Protesters, who gathered upon a call that spread via social media, urged the government to resign over the accusations that led to the resignations of three ministers.

Protesters chanted “Everywhere is bribery, everywhere is corruption,” reminiscent of the slogan “Everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance” that became the motto of the Gezi protests. They also shouted slogans like "Catch the thief!" in reference to the corruption allegations.

Police chased protesters as they tried to escape from the narrow streets leading to the Cihangir neighborhood. The streets surrounding the area were affected by intense tear gas, reports said.

Similar protests were held in Ankara and İzmir where police also resorted to tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds. Battles between protesters and police were also reported in Antakya, one of the key battlegrounds between locals and security forces during the height of the Gezi protests.

The sons of former Interior Minister Muammer Güler and former Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, who handed over their portfolios Dec. 26 after resigning, were among the 24 people who have been formally arrested under the corruption investigation.

Turkey Tensions Escalate As Riot Police, Water Cannon Unleashed

As we noted earlier, political instability is spilling into social unrest:

*TURKISH POLICE SEEK TO BREAK UP PROTEST IN ISTANBUL: NTV TV

*TURKISH POLICE USE TEAR GAS, WATER CANNONS TO END PROTEST

The crowd was chanting "Thief Tayyip Erdogan" in reference to Turkey's graft-probe-implicated PM. And the nation's European cousins are "growing concerned" at events in Turkey, calling for "transparent, impartial justice."

I would judge the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors if I had authority: Turkish PM

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan speaks during a conference in the Western province of Sakarya, Dec. 27. AA photo

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he would like to judge the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) over its stance against a governmental decree, if he had the adequate authority.

“From here, I am filing a criminal complaint [against the HSYK]. The HSYK has broken the law. They have violated article 138 of the Constitution by making a statement on [the change of the procedures of] law enforcement while a case on it was still continuing at the Administrative Court. Now I ask: who will judge the HSYK? Do you know who will do it? The people,” Erdoğan said during a conference in Sakarya on Dec. 27. “I would like to judge them, if I would have adequate authority.”

The HSYK said on Dec. 26 that the government’s initiative to change the procedures of law enforcement that obliges prosecutors and police chiefs to seek the consent of their supervisors before taking any action was unconstitutional. The Administrative Court annulled the decree the following day.

Erdoğan also took aim at Istanbul prosecutor Muammer Aktaş who harshly criticized the government for not allowing him to carry out a corruption operation allegedly worth 100 billion dollars. “Can a prosecutor distribute a statement in front of the courthouse? Can something like that happen? For us, this kind of a prosecutor is the black sheep of justice. How can you do this?” said Erdoğan.

“Now I ask the HSYK. I am also filing a criminal complaint about this prosecutor. What will you do or what did you do about this person?” he said.

Erdoğan continued his criticisms against the prosecutor and asked him “Who are you working for? If you do not explain it, we will release it.”

Erdoğan described the ongoing fight between his government and the movement of the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen as a struggle between old and new Turkey. He also depicted the current corruption operation as the final hurdle obstructing the government’s efforts to build the new Turkey.

“Turkey is at a junction: Either the old Turkey will continue or the new Turkey will prevail. The resistance is against the building of the new Turkey. But I tell you that this is the last resistance. They are offending for the last time. They are using all their means for the last time. With God’s help, we will demolish this resistance and we will close the doors to the old Turkey,” he said. “They will be not able to stop the building of the new Turkey.”

Another loser of this process will be the “chaos lobby” that includes international powers, interest lobby and those who are against the growing of Turkey, Erdoğan said. “We will move forward toward 2023. The interest lobby, the terror lobby will lose. We’ll become strengthened out of this process.”

Recalling that prosecutors were trying to launch a new corruption operation against the Turkish railway directorate, Erdoğan said: “Why have they hit at the railway? Because we are making a high-speed train.”

People protect their government

In an address to people in Sakarya later in the day, Erdoğan argued that the main target was his government and that the corruption operation was just a cover, drawing alleged parallels with what was done to Adnan Menderes, who served as prime minister between 1950 and 1960.

In a strong-worded criticism against the judiciary, Erdoğan said sovereignty belonged to the people and not to the judiciary. “Everybody should be well aware of his place in the Constitution,” he said, suggesting that the target of the ongoing operation as the people’s will.

Reiterating his rhetoric that “international powers” were behind the operation, Erdoğan linked the current development with the Gezi Park protests. “They weren’t able to be successful with the Gezi events. Now they are trying this. But they won’t be successful.”

December/27/2013

Corruption cracks in Turkey's AKP as three MPs announce resignations from party

A former culture minister, Ertuğrul Günay, drew attention with his criticisms on social media following the police crackdown on demonstrators during the Gezi protest. He has been sent to AKP's disciplinary committee after publically expressing criticism over the graft scandal. DAILY NEWS photo

Three lawmakers of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who were sent to the party’s joint disciplinary committee with an expulsion request after publically expressing criticism over the graft scandal that has shaken the government announced their resignation from the party Dec. 27.

Former Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay, İzmir MP Erdal Kalkan andAnkara MP Haluk Özdalga have announced their resignations from the party after the AKP’s Central Executive Board (MYK) decided in a meeting late Dec. 26 to send them to discipline due to their "verbal and written remarks stigmatizing [the] party and the government.”

The three lawmakers are joining former Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin in resigning over the graft investigation in which four ministers, all replaced by a cabinet reshuffle on Dec. 25, have been implicated.

Günay, a senior figure who drew attention with his criticisms on social media following the police crackdown on demonstrators during the Gezi protests, said he was "parting ways" with the AKP during a press statement on Dec. 27.

“The central executive board and the president of the party have incited us into a decision that we had difficulties to make. While the party was facing serious accusations, they have tolerated the people responsible for those accusations and sending to discipline those who were inviting them to reason. They have made the decision easier,” Günay said.

“The party evolved in two different wings: The wide base of people who have been oppressed and an overbearing mentality on the top. This mentality has no chance now. At this point, those people [who have this mentality] are sailing to somewhere else, guided by their arrogance. We have come to the point of parting ways,” he said.

Kalkan also announced his resignation from the AKP before waiting for the final decision of the committee via Twitter, taking aim at his party for showing defiance against corruption allegations. “I resign from the AKP letting you know that the world is turning and our people are not stupid,” Kalkan said, slamming Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for not accepting any internal criticism inside the AKP.

“Political parties are not [entities that can be managed] as if someone owns the place. Particularly Mr. Tayyip Erdoğan. They are social entities brought into existence by millions of people,” Kalkan said.

‘No crisis in judiciary, but intervention’Özdalga, for his part, expressed deep concern over the ongoing situation and urged Prime Minister Erdoğan to pave the way for judgment of the ministers involved in corruption and bribery before the Supreme Council, similar to how the late Prime Minister, Turgut Özal, did at the time.

“This is what leaders who go down in history as statesmen should do,” Özdalga said, speaking at a press conference at Parliament on Dec. 27.

The government should not initiate a similar move after the Council of State annulled a new controversial regulation on judicial police, obliging those carrying out investigations to inform superiors, Özdalga maintained.

“There is no crisis in the judiciary; there is intervention in the judiciary. When this intervention disappears, the crisis will go away. This conduct is not possible to be sustained within the democratic regime,” he said.

Özdalga had come to the fore after calling on President Abdullah Gül to intervene over the graft allegations in what he described as a “state and democracy crisis.” A former head of the Parliament’s Environment Commission, Özdalga campaigned for Turkey to become a part of the Kyoto Protocol in 2009 and is considered among the “liberals” of the AKP.

Twenty-four people have been formally arrested under the corruption investigation that hit Turkey last week, including the sons of former Interior Minister Muammer Güler and former Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, who handed over their portfolios Dec. 26 after resigning. Former Environment Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar’s son was also briefly detained during the investigation.

Egemen Bağış also lost his EU minister portfolio as his name was connected with Iranian-origin businessmen Reza Zarrab, considered as the key suspect in the investigation, particularly regarding his transfer of gold and money to Iran via Turkey’s government-controlled Halkbank.

MPs should think if actions will harm party: Deputy PM ArınçCommenting on the resignations, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç thanked all three lawmakers, but added what they did was “wrong.” “A lawmaker has to think whether his actions will harm the party or not. “They have to show sacrifice themselves if it does [the party] harm,” he said.

Arınç quoted former President Süleyman Demirel’s words saying “Politics are like a train. There are sometimes new people who board and others who get off, but the train pursues its track.”

“We thank those who said ‘the prime minister should also be judged’ after remaining very close with him for years, or showed other reasons for their resignations after 45 years of comradery, or obtained the opportunity to become a lawmaker when, in his own party, no one would stare at their face,” Arınç said implicitly referring to the resigning lawmakers.

Lawmaker blasts ‘pressure’ on second graft probe

Meanwhile, AKP’s Burdur Deputy Hasan Hami Yıldırım criticized the removal of the head prosecutor in a new corruption case reported to be wider than last week’s probe.

Prosecutor Muammer Akkaş announced Dec. 26 that investigation files had been taken “from his hands,” slamming the pressure on the judiciary.

“The pressure on prosecutor Muammer Akkaş is unacceptable. This pressure cannot be considered as legitimate in a rule of law,” Yıldırım said via Twitter.

Last month, İdris Bal who criticized the AKP on the decision to close the test prep schools, resigned after being sent to the disciplinary committee for his remarks.

Bal denounced his party after his designation for not accepting views differing to those of Erdoğan.

During the row, the prime minister had said Bal’s repeated dissenting statements were “unacceptable,” accusing him of breaching the party’s internal discipline.

December/27/2013

Turkish lira hits record lows amid piling political crisis

The ongoing government and judiciary crisis have rattled markets, pushing the lira to a fresh record low of 2.1750 against the U.S. dollar, sending the stock market plummeting to its lowest in 17 months, while the Euro reached an all-time high by passing 3 liras for the first time.

The currency also weakened the historical record low level of 2.58 against the dollar/euro basket.

Turkish debt insurance costs also surged to 18-month highs as investors were rattled by a deepening political crisis that has engulfed top politicians, police officers and businessmen.

The corruption scandal that has exposed fissures in the ruling AK Party before next year’s elections has taken a heavy toll on Turkish financial markets, with stocks set for their worst weekly performance since 2008.

The country’s main index, BIST 100, fell over four percent since the beginning of the day, being traded at around 61,900 points as of 11.45 a.m.

The index plunged to 61,620 in the morning, seeing its lowest level since July 2012.

The cost of insuring exposure to Turkish debt in the credit default swaps (CDS) market hit 18-month highs of 253 basis points, more than 30 bps up from the previous close, according to data from Markit.The 5-year CDS contract traded at 191 bps in mid-December just before the crisis erupted.

Central Bank silent

The financial markets, which have been shaken along with mounting political tension over the corruption investigation, cannot manage to pick up in the absence of concrete intervention from the Central Bank.

Police on Dec. 17 detained dozens of people, among them the sons of the interior minister and two other cabinet members, after months of graft probes that were kept secret from commanders who might have informed the government in advance.

The latest nail in the coffin, the head prosecutor in a new corruption case said the investigation files have been “taken from his hands” after he gave instructions for the arrest of suspects, while blasting the judicial institution for obstructing the probe.

“Political developments in Turkey over the past 10 days have introduced uncertainty into the system that has not been present for a number of years,” Unicredit said in a note.

“Before these events, few questioned the ability of AKP to win the upcoming elections in the face of a disjointed opposition but this can no longer be considered a done deal.”

December/27/2013

Turkey's Council of State annuls controversial regulation lifting investigation secrecy

The second graft probe, reported to be larger than the first, which has shaken the government, was made public with great controversy after the head prosecutor of the case announced the investigation files were “taken from his hands.” CİHAN photo

Prominent businessmen were among the 41 suspects who were issued arrest orders in the second corruption probe, daily Hürriyet reported Dec. 27.

The list of names contained in the official prosecution documents obtained by the daily included Nihat Özdemir, the chairman of Limak group, who is part of a consortium which has won the contract to build Istanbul’s third airport, Saudi businessman Yasin al-Qadi, who has been accused of financing terrorism in the past and the owner of the BIM discount retailer, Mustafa Latif Topbaş.

The second graft probe, reported to be larger than the first one that has shaken the government, was made public with great controversy after the head prosecutor of the case announced the investigation files were “taken from his hands.”

Muammer Akkaş said in a statement Dec. 26 the arrest orders he made as part of the investigation were not carried out, despite having been conveyed to the police department.

The documents published by Hürriyet charged the suspects of “founding a criminal organization,” “bribery and influence peddling,” “tender fraud,” “forgery in official documents,” “clearing assets acquired through criminal activity” and “threats.”

Other names on the list included the executives of two other construction companies that are part of the joint venture which won Istanbul’s third airport tender, along with Limak: Orhan Cemal Kalyoncu and Ömer Faruk Kalyoncu board chairman and deputy chairman of Kalyon respectively as well as the board member of Kolin, Celal Koloğlu. The multifaceted businessman Abdullah Tivnikli, who is the partner of the Batı Hattı A.Ş., a company which holds Gazprom deals, and Abdullah Kavukçu, partner of Simit Sarayı, a popular chain of simit cafes, are also in the list.

Koloğlu rejected the accusations following the publication of the documents, telling Hürriyet he had no links with the charges directed at him. In the same vein, Kavukçu told Hürriyet the accusations were the result of the strength of their brand, adding he was ready to testify if summoned.

Four ministers were implicated in the graft probe that has rocked Turkey since last week.

The sons of former Interior Minister Muammer Güler and former Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, who handed over their portfolios Dec. 26 after resigning, were among the 24 people who have been formally arrested under the corruption investigation.

The removal of the prosecutor from the second investigation stirred a huge outcry, especially among the opposition, but also inside the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Three AKP deputies resigned from the party on Dec. 27, criticizing its stance over the graft allegations.

December/27/2013

AND.......

Report: Al-Qaeda suspects flee after Turkish gov't blocks raid

Al-Qaeda-linked Yusuf Al Qadi and Osama Khoutub, who are among the suspects in a major graft probe, have reportedly fled Turkey after the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) blocked a police raid on Wednesday as İstanbul police refused to comply with orders of prosecutors to detain several suspects in the second leg of the investigation

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office ordered the detention of 30 suspects, including a number of deputies and businessmen. The İstanbul Police Department, which saw an extensive purge of its top officers over the last week, has not complied with the order, however.
News reports suggest that when the list of 30 suspects leaked to media on Wednesday, some of the suspects took precautionary measures to avoid incriminating themselves in the case of a police raid on their homes or offices.
And some suspects fled Turkey, including al-Qaeda Turkey operatives Al Qadi and Khoutub, after government blocked the investigation through newly appointed police chiefs who refused to comply with court decision.
Prosecutor Muammer Akkaş, who was leading the second round of the probe, was removed from the case. “All my colleagues and the public should know that as a public prosecutor I was prevented from carrying out the investigation,” the prosecutor said in a statement on Thursday, adding that pressure had clearly been placed on the judiciary both from the Public Prosecutor's Office and the police, allowing an opportunity for suspects to destroy the evidence.
Akkaş said although he issued detention and search warrants for the suspects and relayed these to the İstanbul Police Department on Wednesday morning, the police department had not complied with his orders.
"By not implementing the court decisions, police chiefs committed a crime. An opportunity was given to suspects to take measures, escape or mitigate the evidence," he said.
Saudi businessman Al Qadi's assests were frozen in Turkey after he was named a financer of terrorism in the international community. News reports point out that the al-Qaeda suspect is allowed to enter Turkey freely and has access to high-level diplomats and security officials, including Undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Hakan Fidan.
According to claims, former Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin, who left his post on Wednesday in a major Cabinet reshuffle, asked the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor to close the case.

Opposition calls on president to activate State Supervisory Council for corruption case

As the government attempts to block corruption probes in which three former Cabinet ministers recently replaced in a Cabinet reshuffle have allegedly been implicated, members of the opposition parties have called on President Abdullah Gül to look into the corruption allegations.

Mahmut Tanal, a deputy from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), asked President Gül in a letter that that he charge the State Supervisory Council (DDK) with investigating the claims of corruption in the government that led to the resignations this week of three Cabinet ministers, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, Interior Minister Muammer Güler and Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar.
In his letter Tanal calls on the president to intervene in order to secure the continuation of a democratic system and says: “The president is the head of the state. As such, he represents the unity of the Turkish Republic and the Turkish nation; he makes sure that various bodies of the state act in order and harmony.”
The launch of a second corruption probe by İstanbul prosecutors mid-week was prevented by the government when the newly appointed head of the İstanbul Security Directorate declined to comply with a prosecutor's instructions. The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has ordered the detention of 30 suspects, including a number of deputies and businessmen. The İstanbul Police Department, which saw an extensive purge of its top officers over the last week, has not complied with the order.
CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu complained on Friday that due to the government's interference with the judiciary, Turkey is on a path that will lead the country off the track of democracy. “The government is openly exerting pressure on the legislative branch and the judiciary,” he said.
Ertuğrul Yalçınbayır, formerly a leading member of the ruling AK Party, also called on the president to intervene in order to protect the independence of the judiciary. “The president should act by his own initiative,” he said on Friday.
In a blow to judicial independence, public prosecutor Muammer Akkaş, who was overseeing one arm of the ongoing corruption investigation involving government officials, was removed from the operation on Thursday. The prosecutor claimed that he had been prevented from performing his duty in the investigation.
Akkaş was leading the investigation that is seen as the second phase of a graft probe that has led to the resignations of three Cabinet ministers whose sons were also detained last week due to their alleged involvement in corruption.
In an overnight change to police procedure for judicial investigations last week, the government stifled prosecutorial independence by requiring police officers to report to their superiors in all investigations. In the current probe of corruption and bribery, that would have forced the police to inform the interior minister that they were investigating his son.
Since the graft probe was first launched last week, hundreds of police officers have been removed from their posts by the government.

The world was in mourning today as it became clear that Recep Erdogan of Turkiye had been hit over the head by a banking scandal. But things are somewhat confused as to why the flying missile has turned into “a corruption investigation involving state-run lender Halkbank”.

Much as I dislike what Erdogan is obviously up to, this development has my nose twitching. Who – on a broader scale – wants Erdogan gone? Who is pummeling the Turkish currency to death? The answers for anyone with a brain must point across the Atlantic to our Special Relations.

This post is brief and to the point, in that I am begging a 60m Dollar Question. EU energy, Syrian politics, Greek debt, Russian blackmail, the rape of Cyprus, Israeli propaganda and Turkiye being rewarded for standing by NATO during the Chemical Weapons scam: why are Dark Forces now keen to dump Erdo the Mad? To inform that question, let’s look more closely at the key Islamist rivals to Erdogan in Turkiye – the Hizmet movement inspired by Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen

The influence of the Hizmet movement is very much in the Ankara spotlight today. Ill-feeling between Hizmet and Erdogan is said to have grown since the Turkish government moved to close down a network of private schools run by Hizmet. But Erdoganite suspicion of Hizmet has been around ever since Fethullah Gülen became the first Muslim scholar to publicly condemn 9/11.

Gülen is US based. He is seen by Washington as somebody who believes that Muslims and non-Muslims once lived in peace because the Ottoman Turks established an environment of tolerance. To restore this peaceful coexistence worldwide, he says, Turks should become world leaders in promoting tolerance among religions—and Turks following his teachings should become world leaders. This is in direct contrast to Erdogan, who has overturned the secular tolerant school originally inspired by Kemal Ataturk.

Turkish businessmen are attracted by what they see as Mr Gülen’s international outlook and pragmatic approach to issues like using credit. And Fethullah Gülen himself is a billionaire whose influence extends far beyond Turkey, funding hundreds of Islamic schools, think tanks and media outlets, from Kenya to Kazakhstan. He has attracted millions of followers and further billions of dollars.

In short, his apparently benign Islamic philosophy and material success make him acceptable to the US Establishment.Gülen lives in Pennsylvania, in the Poconos. He is, among other things, a major player in the world of American charter schools. On paper, he looks like the right guy to back.

But others say he is a very, very false flag indeed. Hizmet followers in Turkey hold influential positions in institutions from the police and secret services to the judiciary and the AK Party itself. As far as I can tell, they were with little doubt behind the arrest of bank-scandal criminals close to Recep Erdogan a week ago. Erdogan has, in retaliation to this, effected a Cabinet reshuffle which purged eight Hizmet sympathisers. This is now a struggle for power between the ruling AKP, and Hizmet. “The reshuffle means practically creating a war cabinet,” says Hamid Akin Unver, an assistant professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, “The war is [about] AKP’s political survival, and the battle it is going to rage for control.”

The US State Department and the CIA have built up an impressive track record of backing the wrong folks that is almost (but not quite) as consistent as that of Britain’s FCO and MI5. Bearing in mind this unerring SNAFU facility, Gülen’s detractors are fond of quoting his 1999 speech that went like this:

“You must move in the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centres……Until the conditions are ripe, they [the followers] must continue like this. If they do something prematurely, the world will crush our heads, and Muslims will suffer everywhere, like in the tragedies in Algeria, like in 1982 [in] Syria, . . . like in the yearly disasters and tragedies in Egypt……The time is not yet right. You must wait for the time when you are complete and conditions are ripe, until we can shoulder the entire world and carry it…..you must wait until such time as you have all the state power, until you have brought to your side all the power of the constitutional institutions in Turkey”.

My gut feeling is that yet again the US government and its intelligence agencies are bringing a Trojan Horse into the stockade. Just as with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, they see Fethullah Gülen as a more malleable NATO “ally” in the longer term than Erdogan….most likely because they have become suspicious of the close ties he retains to the hated Iranian regime.

These power geopolitics overlay almost perfectly the energy geopolitics involved. Essentially, we are still looking at two rivals, with the EU playing piggy in the middle: Russia, Syria, Iran, and China on the one side, with the US, Cyprus/Turkey, Israel and Greece on the other. Alexis Tripras of Syriza has chosen the US axis. For the US, the unsquared circle remains the vituperative antipathy between Turkey and Israel. Hence (one suspects) Washington’s desire to have “their guy” onside in Turkiye.

Were Angela Merkel not a globally ambitious megalomaniac, the shared interest between her and Obama would be the obvious way to go. But Geli speaks fluent Russian, Vlad speaks fluent German, and they are both former hardline USSR Stalinists. As I’ve posted over and over ad nauseam, there is nothing the German Chancellor would like better than a third global power base in which a Russian-supported EU acts as a power balance between the US and China.

In a very delicate situation, the Americans are not playing the most subtle Bridge hand in this situation. They bet the farm on Geli re the eurozone mess, and they backed the Muslim Brotherhood in Greece and Syria. Both calls have turned bad. Now they may well be backing a harder-line closet enemy in Turkiye than the man they already own there. Not for the first time do I wish the US would stay at home and focus on some serious post-oil energy technology to trump everyone else’s hand.